quick hello and happy new year. welcome to "focus on europe." this week, we look back to some of the highlights of 2014. it was a difficult choice, but here are some of our pieces which got the biggest reaction from viewers. europe's highest peaks -- from mountain trail to tourists trail. child migrants -- how underage refugees are used for profits. and dangerous descent -- how turkish miners are risking their lives. first, to the outs -- alps, a

popular destination for mountaineers. the highest peak straddles the border of france and italy, mont blanc. 30,000 people attempt to reach the top every year, but not all are experienced enough. this year alone, at least 20 people have been killed trying to make that assent. >> it's 3:00 in the morning and an elevation of nearly 4000 meters. climbers are about to attempt the ascent of mont blanc. there are more than 100 mountaineers from all over the world. >> themselves. >> ok, ready. let's do it. >> andrew and naomi have a 1000-meter solo climb ahead of them. they took a five-day climbing course in peru, and they hope that will be enough to master

mont blanc, but many underestimate the difficulty of the climb. over the past 10 years, more than 200 people have died. down in the valley, the mayor is concerned about those figures. too many people lose their lives on month-long, he says. >> a russian woman was left out there by her fellow climbers because she could not make it to the top, and the others could not reach her. by the time the rescue crew got there, she was dead. things like that should not happen. >> there's little talk of such tragedies nearby. bad news is bad for business. the sports shops, hotels, and pubs rely on tourists to survive, and they come here for month-long, even if they do not plan to climate.

>> it's a wonderful view. it's the roof of europe. i've been up there four times, and it was not all that long ago. >> on this morning, no tourist will make it to the top. it's far too dangerous. with wind gusts of more than 80 kilometers an hour and temperatures of more than -20 degrees celsius. naomi and andrew also stopped at the last mountain refuge before the peak. naomi is chilled to the bone, but still, they do not want to give up. >> we really want to make the summit. >> weighting of here at 4400 meters can be dangerous. altitude sickness can cause fluid to build up in the lungs and brain, but some amateur alpinists even spent several nights in the refuge hoping to finish the climb. >> month-long has come -- become

-- mont blanc has become a consumer item. people come here the way to go to the movies or take a walk in the park. it has become something banal, a product sold in travel agencies. it's all about the money, and so we end up with these problems. >> he wants to limit the number of tourists allowed on the mountain and require them to be accompanied by experience guides, but most people in the valley reject the idea. >> mont blanc is a legend. people come here from all over the world to make climb. should we tell them we will build a cable railway up to the top? we would see a lot fewer tourists here. >> naomi and andrew finally decide to head down the mountain. they are disappointed that they did not make it. >> that height, we were very

cold. the tour guides, everybody said it was crazy to continue because the wind is so strong and the ridge is sewed the -- so steep. >> probably about -52 minus eight -- minus five to minus eight. not acclimatize to that. we are used to warm weather. >> some others managed to stick out the night at the refuge. the next day, some of the climbers make it to the top of month-long. later, they will boast of their experience and draw even more tourists to venture the dangerous climb. >> just one of the ways by trying to get off the beaten track, we seem to be turning even the most remote locations into package holidays. now to a spanish exclave on the

mediterranean course of north africa. because this is a small part of a european union on the african continent, migrants often see it as a way of getting into the eu and smuggling people into europe has become big is this. while investigating that story, our reporters uncovered disturbing evidence that children are now being used by traffickers to increase their profits still further. >> she is drawing her new home. this girl came to spain from central africa two years ago. she was just five when she got into a notepad with refugees along with a man who claimed to be her mother's boyfriend. >> i remember that i was in a boat, and i went to sleep, and after that, i don't know where i was anymore. >> the boat ended up stranded in a spanish exclave on the north

african coast. the man disappeared. she was taken to a children's home, and the spanish authorities took charge. children like her often end up in the hands of strangers. it's not clear what the human traffickers plan to do with them >> there are indications they intend to sell the children or do something else with them that is illegal. at any rate, some kind of illegal activity involving minors. >> even unaccompanied babies are sometimes stranded on the spanish coast. some refugees bring children because they hope that if they are caught, the spanish authorities will be more lenient if a child is with them. often, the children are little more than ponds -- pawns.

for some, the journey is deadly. >> once a child on an arriving boat fell into the water and drowned. we were able to recover the body, but none of the refugees on board reacted. it was a humanitarian disaster. a child falls into the sea and rounds and nobody speaks up or claims it as their own. >> this is become a key landing point for immigrants seeking to enter the eu. the exclave borders on morocco. women and children usually try to enter by sea. crossing the fences on the land border is too dangerous. david rodriguez did all -- vidal knows the risks they take. he worked for the spanish service as an undercover agent in the gangs of africa.

he says children also play a role in organized prostitution. >> the trafficker will often rent a child to a company a woman being sent to europe to provide sex services. with a child, the woman cannot be deported as easily, and she can also make the jump to the spanish mainland quicker from here. >> in granada in southern spain, an organization is trying to hinder child abduction. people who claim to be parents often have to take genetic test to prove it. in some boats, 10 out of 12 children are not accompanied by a blood relative. the organization hopes news of the test will make the rounds in the countries the children come from. >> it definitely has a preventive effect. the mafia trafficking minors in order to improve the chances of other refugees getting into europe has now realized it is

becoming more difficult because genetic testing is practically the norm. >> human traffickers keep inventing new scams to avoid detection, but even when the police discover their activities, once they are beyond the border, the authorities no longer have jurisdiction. >> it's a huge problem. we do not know how many children have arrived in this way, and we also do not know where they are right now. our police can ask only here. we do not know how and where the children are abducted or what happens to them. >> the traffickers exploit those gaps and police knowledge, often smuggling children and their mothers into different countries. the former undercover agent says that's the system the criminals use. >> how can they force a woman to pay what she owes them if she lives in germany, for example,

by holding her children in spain -- the kids remain in the hands of the traffickers to ensure that the mother makes her payments on time. >> this girl was lucky. her mother, who now lives in rants, found her after a long search. genetic testing confirmed the relationship. now she only wants one thing. >> i want to be with my mother. i miss her so much. i want to see my brother and my sister. >> she has already been granted a visa for france, and the next shift will hope lee transport her -- the next ship will hopefully transport her into a much more secure future. >> poland is seen as one of europe's economic success stories, but that would have been hard to predict after the

second world war when the capital warsaw lay in ruins, but today, the city is booming and his got back some of its former glamour. all of it can be seen in the fascinating story of or saw's most famous hotel. >> everyone in warsaw knows the bristol, the polish equivalent to berlin's argonne hotel, and it's now 118 years old -- 113 years old. as a young boy, he was often to be found with his father, who ran the hotel restaurant into he's now in his 90's. he had not seen the hotel in more than expected. he did not want to see how it had deteriorated in communist times, but he agreed to take a look with us. he remembers the listed facade and has passed through these

doors many times. of all the excitement the hotel offered a young boy, what fascinated him most was the electric elevator, the first in poland. >> it's the oldest monument in the hotel. it is beautiful, and i am so happy it has been renovated, but i still recognize everything. it's what i best remember from my childhood -- riding the elevator in the bristol hotel was an amazing experience. >> the hotel opened to great fanfare in 1901. the real gold ceiling decorations were a sensation. the cafe was a popular meeting place for warsaw locals. he recalls that golden age with a sense of nostalgia. >> it was the most exclusive

hotel. everyone went there. there were other good hotels in warsaw, but they were not as finely furnished as the bristol was. the atmosphere here was amazing in those golden years. everyone who came here felt like they were entering a different world, a better world. teens came, so we wanted to be here, too. -- kings came, so we wanted to be here, too. >> but in 1939, the germans invaded poland, and after the war, the communists took over. the glory days were over. the hotel survived without any significant structural damage, its grandeur was out of tune with communist ideals. 25 years on, the hotel is looking ahead without forgetting the past. after so many years, he steps back into the kitchen of his childhood. he is skeptical about the stainless steel cutlery, which he says is a poor replacement for the silverware with the

engraving, but overall, he is delighted to see the hotel returned to its former glory. the next time he has guests, he says he will take them to the bristol because anywhere else just would not be right. >> earlier this year, turkey was hit by its worst ever mining disaster. more than 300 men were trapped and killed when a coal mine collapsed. at the time, the accident sparked angry antigovernment demonstrations across the country, but since then, there has been no sign that turkish mines have got any safer. our correspondent in the region managed to get exclusive access to a mine in the southeast of the country, and by going underground, he experienced that firsthand, just how dangerous their work is. >> the sound of engines marks the start of the morning shift. in this valley, that's at half past 6:00.

the minor's start their day with a 150-meter trip down a tube rarely wider than a person. no one seems to care that they descend with burning cigarettes and no helmets. after only a few minutes, the first bucket of cold was hauled up. the miners are paid next to nothing by the distributor, but the miners are friends and they share everything. they are united by the hazardous work in an illegal mine. the foreman has managed to find a helmet, but only due to the presence of our camera. it looks like a suicide mission, but they do not allow themselves to feel of -- afraid. >> our only fear is that they will take away our jobs and our pay and our bread. in this region, there is no other work. >> the workers built these mines

themselves. ever since the devastating mining accident in soma, the turkish government has promised higher safety standards, but here to border with iraq, not much has changed. working conditions are antiquated. the miners have nothing more than shovels, pickaxes, and last lights. there are no asked masks and no emergency alarm. the mine itself has no emergency supports, no emergency exits. >> we take big risks, but some of us have to feed five or six kids. what else can we do? >> they spend at least eight hours a day in the mine or an hourly rate of two euros. and of course, they are not insured. this family are kurds, like nearly everyone in this area.

the tickets-long civil war between the army and the pkk may be over, but southeastern turkey is still the poorest part of the country. after the war and oppression, families like this want to escape poverty. but the state is threatening to close the mines. they say authorities are more concerned that the miners want to run the pits than they are about the lack of safety standards. families here still heal as if they are subjected to systematic discrimination. >> i wanted to be a doctor. but there's no opportunities like that for a kid from here. if the mines are shut down, i would take my family to western turkey to look for work, just like so many other people have had to. >> 70,000 people here, and there's at least one minor per

family. they say people have the choice between dying in the mines or starvation. only the mayor has been fighting for the coal miners. he is fighting to save jobs and lives. >> the current conditions and circumstances in the mines do not meet the necessary safety standards. the has already cost more than 100 lives, so i support the miners' claims. they should begin given the right to form cooperatives. when the cooperatives are legalized, they can invest in safety standards. then the workers will also have to have health and social welfare insurance. >> for many families, it's already too late.

he, his brother, and a friend died of gas poisoning in a mine at the end of may, leaving his widow with six children. she has found that she has little support. >> the medics have two gas masks, but they were both broken. they could not help my husband. >> like every morning, the miners go to work and hope for the best while the government looks the other way. at least until the next accident. >> finally, to finland, which, until the 2008 financial crisis, had a strong economy most partly because it was the home of the mobile phone giant gnocchi of -- nokia, was the global leader in

cell phones, before apple's iphone came along. now it's one of the few countries with a shrinking economy, which means tough austerity from the authorities. for one small town, a canny investment in nokia a few years ago is at least still helping elderly people. >> this village in southern finland has seen better days. for years, it has been drowning in debt, which keeps getting bigger. but the town council says that is about to change. every monday, it leads to try to turn their fortunes around. the irst order of business is the lottery cup. each of the nine town council members puts in a coin and chooses a number for the weekly super jet hot. they will need a really big win to balance the budget and

eliminate its 4 million euros in debt. >> of course, we hope to win, but more importantly, we want to send a message to the government -- things cannot go on like this. >> he wants to show us what that means. he takes us for a tour through his cash-strapped village on his tractor. we are heading for what is generally a source of pride in inland -- the local of -- the local school. pupils rank among the world's best they see high investment in education, but that's not the case here. funds have been cut thousands of euros, leaving classrooms looking distinctly old-school. students use pencil and chalk, not laptops, and he says that's a shame because his countries is one of the richest in finland.

when he died in 1962, he bequeathed his birthplace all he had, including 780 shares in a company called nokia. back then, the firm produced rubber boots. but after switched to making cell phones, share price soared, and the bequest was suddenly worth 30 million euros, but there was a catch. >> the money made from the sales of shares is designated to make the lives of the old people at the retirement home as comfortable as possible. >> that's why this poor village has what must be the world's swankiest senior citizens home. it is a real wellness center, complete with a gym, sauna, and swimming pool. millions have been spent with

the benefit of just two dozen seniors. >> is like a five-star hotel here. the accommodation is so nice, and the food is so good. we had everything here. >> it was his last will and testament, and we must respect that. >> looking around the home's lovely japanese garden, he cannot help feeling a little envious. >> sometimes, just before i fall asleep at night, i imagine how nice it would be to have just a little of that money at our disposal. >> but there is one thing the town counselor has in abundance -- the support of the citizens. they are protesting helsinki's

cost-cutting measures and backing the lottery-playing policy. >> when people started talking about is playing the lottery, everyone wanted to take part. not only here but in the neighboring villages as well. >> then comes the most exciting part -- the drawing of the lottery numbers. they have a ticket with four of the winning numbers, worth more than 100 euros. >> and win the jackpot, we'll throw a big party. >> so far, they have invested 1200 euros but only one -- won a thousand. maybe playing the lottery is not the best way for them to get out of debt after all. >> that's all for today. thanks very much for watching during 2014. for me and all the team here, i would like to raise a glass to you, our viewers, and wish you a happy new year. [captioning performed by the

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glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's tuesday january 13th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. china's state-run agency xinhua says police in the country's northwest have prevented a bombing. the report says officers in the xinjiang uighur autonomous region saw people trying to detonate explosives and they shot the would-be bombers dead. the report says residents in a commercial district of cashcar spotted a person with an explosive device. the person wielded an ax and tried to detonate the device before being shot